First AG batch in about a week - correct procedure?

So we've built a pretty sweet 2 tier brew rig and im ready for my first all grain batch in about a week, but i feel like i've read to much and ive got 20 different "ways" to brew. Can someone tell me if the method im going to be doing is accurate? Im looking at brewing the clone to terrapin rye pale ale (I got the recipe from HBT - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtle-terrapin-rye-clone-72839/)

So im heating my strike water to 154 degrees
Transferring strike water to the Mash-tun which has the grains in it, mashing in at 154 degrees with 3.5/4 gallons of water
I let the grains rest for 60 mins in the mash tun at 154.
Mash out at 170 degrees for 10 mins.

This is where my confusion starts and correct me if im wrong please...

We have a pump for fly sparging, am i adding additional water to the mash-tun to make up the 6 gallons and just re-circulating all of this for 30-45 mins?
Or am i draining the original 3.5/4 gallons into the boil, then adding additional water to make up the 6 gallon batch, and re-circulating the new strike water?

Now am I sparging with the heat still on? and is this at the 154 temp - or the mash-out temp of 170?

Hopefully thats not to confusing, any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

It would help a bit to understand what your brew system looks like. The first part looks good, but you have to be diligent about breaking up the dough balls when mashing in if you're adding water to grain. I might suggest adding the grain slowly to the water, makes it a bit easier to mix.

What is your mash tun? If a cooler, I would definitely add the strike water about 15F higher than the mash temp to make up for the temp loss. If you're using a fired pot, no problem.

For the fly sparging, I'm assuming you have a manifold for the MT, not a stainless braid. For the mash out, I assume you're recirculating the mash with the pump somewhere to heat it up to 170F? If not you're adding more hot water to bring it up? Either way, you should recirculate the mash after the 170F rest for the vorlauf to setup the lauter until it's clear. Then you slowly add 170F water gently to the top of the mash at the same rate as you empty the mash tun into the kettle to keep 1 inch or so of water on top of the grains at all time. The drain should be a trickle, and the sparge should take around 45 mins. Try to keep the temperature in the mash at 170F the whole time. If it drops, no biggie. The idea is to slowly replace all of the mash water with sparge water in the MLT until you reach the pre-boil volume in the kettle, then stop.

These are just my suggestions, and obviously just number "21" in your list. The method that works well for you really has the most to do with your equipment.

dutchb said:

Transferring strike water to the Mash-tun which has the grains in it, mashing in at 154 degrees with 3.5/4 gallons of water

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I just did my first batch this way and I think it was a huge mistake. I highly recommend adding the water to the MLT a little hot and waiting for it to drop to the right temperature. You won't have a good idea of how much heat the MLT will suck out of the water ahead of time, so you might as well preheat it. If you're going to recirculate, add your mash out water to bring your temp up, give it a couple minutes and then start recirculating. That's the advice I've been given. I'm not long term AG veteran by any means so I'm going to subscribe and wait for everyone to correct me!

PoppinCaps said:

These are just my suggestions, and obviously just number "21" in your list. The method that works well for you really has the most to do with your equipment.

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So true! There are a thousand ways to skin this particular cat...

Thanks again, this pretty much exactly what i was looking for, as for the equipment,
Im using a 2 tier system (mash tun and strike water on the same tier and boil on the lowest) with 3 banjo burners, and 3 keggles. Mashtun has a false bottom and im building a sprinkler this week.
So after i do the mash out of bringing it up to 170F, i vorlauf by just draining some out, adding it to the top and once it starts running clear - start draining into the kettle while sparging with an inch of water above the grains...so far so good?

Yep that sounds good. How are you bringing the temp up to 170F?

Honestly, I've seen and tried a ton of different sparge arms and sprinkler things, and what has worked best for me is a simple silicone tube sitting on top of the mash. Very simple and one less thing to think about. Number "22"...

I will be using the burner I have under the mash tun.

Got it. Yeah, that process should work well. Of course for me the first few rounds were a little touch and go, but once you know your gear it gets more predictable.

dutchb said:

So we've built a pretty sweet 2 tier brew rig and im ready for my first all grain batch in about a week, but i feel like i've read to much and ive got 20 different "ways" to brew. Can someone tell me if the method im going to be doing is accurate? Im looking at brewing the clone to terrapin rye pale ale (I got the recipe from HBT - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtle-terrapin-rye-clone-72839/)

So im heating my strike water to 154 degrees
Transferring strike water to the Mash-tun which has the grains in it, mashing in at 154 degrees with 3.5/4 gallons of water
I let the grains rest for 60 mins in the mash tun at 154.
Mash out at 170 degrees for 10 mins.

This is where my confusion starts and correct me if im wrong please...

We have a pump for fly sparging, am i adding additional water to the mash-tun to make up the 6 gallons and just re-circulating all of this for 30-45 mins?
Or am i draining the original 3.5/4 gallons into the boil, then adding additional water to make up the 6 gallon batch, and re-circulating the new strike water?

Now am I sparging with the heat still on? and is this at the 154 temp - or the mash-out temp of 170?

Hopefully thats not to confusing, any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

Unless you have no grain or your grain is already at 154 degrees your strike water must be higher than the mash temperature. You can use one of the calculators to determine what temprerature the strike water should be. I would expect somewhere between 164 and 170.

Well I must say we got to drink our first AG batch this weekend (terrapin rye pa clone), and it turned out phenomenal!
We've had a ton of compliments on it and it went over great this weekend with our friends. I was very impressed with how well it did turn out considering we messed up a few steps but apparently they were not show stoppers!